Koi su tomo misao ni hito ni iwarebaya mi ni shitagawanu kokoro ya wa aru

恋すとも操に人に言はればや
身に従はぬ心やはある

Roma-ji: Koi su tomo misao ni hito ni iwarebaya mi ni shitagawanu kokoro ya wa aru
English Translation: Though I be in love,
I would have others say of me
that I stay unmoved;
could there be a heart at all
that won't follow where I lead?
Meaning: Even though I am in love, I wish people would say I remain unmoved; is there any heart that will not follow its own body's lead?
Commentary: One Hundred Poems 1497

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Ten Poems on Love"
The fifth of the ten poems on love. Though he is in love, he wishes to be spoken of as one who stays composed; could the heart fail to follow the body?
It sings of the self-restraint of hidden love, trying to make the heart follow the outward bearing so that no one will guess. The rhetorical question at the end, wishing it were so, reveals the pain of a love in which the heart in fact will not obey.

First line, “koi su tomo”: tomo is a concessive hypothetical, "even though in love."
Second line, “misao ni hito ni”: misao is composure, an unchanging heart, "as composed, by others."
Third line, “iwarebaya”: baya is a wish for oneself, "I would be so spoken of"; the poem breaks here.
Fourth line, “mi ni shitagawanu”: that does not follow the body's bearing.
Fifth line, “kokoro ya wa aru”: ya wa is rhetorical, "is there such a heart?—there is not."
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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